P U S H A W A Y
by Achromatopsia
Summary: Even the people who never frown, eventually break down. — vincentriku, rikuvincent. au. one-shot. contestfic. complete.


**push away **

-

Riku was a package of...of raw emotions bundled into a blanket and tucked in a freshly woven basket.

The teen was a beautiful splash of bright brilliant color—however; all of the color formed one gorgeous shade of _gray_. A gray that had taken a hold of him and was not going to let go any time soon. The gray brought with it a mood of **stoicism**.

The stoic expression was what Vincent had noticed.

While many might find his crimson colored eyes attention grabbing, he liked the young teen's coloring much better. The light, silvery colored hair that hid dull jade colored eyes was "striking". As was the brooding expression the teen often wore on his face. And the fact that Riku had been walking down the street around two in the morning.

How the kid had ended up from outside to inside of his apartment Vincent did not know. He knew that he had opened his mouth and said something along the lines of: "Why?" And the dull, glazed jade eyes moved from a spot on the floor to him in one swift motion. When the green and red met, it felt like an odd sort of Christmas, except in this Christmas nothing was going to go right.

But instead of answering, Riku shrugged his shoulders and asked a question in return. "You're not going to rape and kill me are you?" His voice sounded dry, like it had been stripped of something valuable. The teen acted as if it was a normal question to ask a person who was unfamiliar to him. His silvery hair looked shaggy and overgrown and when Riku moved, he moved (almost) like a female. And that was when he gave the younger a negative answer. Jade eyes moved back to a spot on the floor. "I'm sixteen." The two words becoming the most random thing Vincent would hear all day.

The voice was hollow. _Riku's_ voice was hollow.

Vincent nodded but didn't say anything. Sure, he could have asked what a sixteen-year-old was doing out at this time of night but...

Riku looked like he didn't want to be bothered with that kind of thing. So he let the teen sit there while he moved around the apartment, making noise because it didn't feel right that the teen was so quiet. He had been moving around for what was really minutes but felt like an hour, when he noticed that Riku had fallen asleep on the floor. His mouth slightly open, hair all over the place, the soft sound of breathing. Riku seemed move alive while he was sleeping than when he was awake. Vincent picked him up and carried him into the bed.

Half an hour later when he was ready to go to sleep—it felt strange. He climbed in next to Riku and found that having an extra body in the bed was troublesome. The silvery hair was shiny and reflected the moonlight that peaked in through the windows and this became very distracting. It was so different from his own charcoal colored hair. Riku was a distressed sleeper—he tossed and turned and whimpered. Vincent wondered what he could be dreaming about. What types of dreams did the stoic teen have? Vincent patted Riku on the back like a mother often would do with her infant child, a strange act of tenderness. The whimpering, tossing, and turning did not stop but they clamed down. And Vincent was still patting Riku on the back as he drifted off into his own world of slumber, which for some reason consisted of Riku who kept speaking words that the crimson eyed man could not hear.

In the morning, Vincent woke with Riku fully on top of him, sleeping.

Vincent noticed that Riku had fallen asleep in the clothes that he had been wearing last night. He felt a pang of guilt for not offering something for the jade eyed teen to wear. Silvery hair looked as if it had gone through some sort of battle last night, and Riku's t-shirt had managed to make it part of the way up the teen's torso while his pants looked as if they might start coming off.

The black haired man might have stayed there if he had not heard a knock on the door that forced him to carefully move the teen off of him.

Riku groaned and turned over, frowning. Vincent watched quietly before turning and answering the door. Behind it waiting were the blond hair and ocean blue eyes of Cloud. Cloud, who gave a soft greeting and stepped inside, headed in the direction of the couch to sit down. Vincent closed the door and locked it, all louder than he meant to.

Prompting what happened next.

Riku walked out of Vincent's bedroom. Scratching his at his head, yawning, and looking as if he had been wild sex. His clothes messed and hanging off of him and Cloud simply looking at Riku and asking, "Who is _he_?" Jade colored eyes looked innocently around, not really understanding what was going on. Blue eyes widened, studying the person in front of him. "What is a kid...?" Riku bit his bottom lip, looking uncomfortably at Cloud and Vincent, a soft pink color coming onto his face. His jade eyes dropped to the floor, probably is search of the spot on the floor he had been staring at last night.

"I'm...I-I'm Riku."

"I'll explain."

Vincent directing his words to Cloud and walking over to Riku, leading the teen back into the bedroom and giving him a change of clothing and directing him to the shower. Riku held the clothes lightly in his hands. "Is that a friend of yours?"

Vincent mumbled an incoherent reply, walking back into the living room where Cloud was waiting.

The blond looked expectantly at Vincent. "He was walking the street last night," the elder began before the other could speak any other words. "I simply invited him in and that's all." He listened as he heard the shower water starting being turned on. The sound of water was loud and filled the space, giving Vincent a reason to pretend that he did not hear what Cloud asked next. Of course "walking the street" sounded like Riku was a prostitute that had offered sex in exchange for a place to stay last night. And Vincent was prepared to remind Cloud that a.) that was illegal b.) Riku was just a kid and c.) he would probably end up in prison for a while (if the event had happened).

"You're not doing anything...sexual with him, right?" Cloud had a look of slight trepidation on his face.

"No," Vincent answered curtly.

"Do you know why he was wandering around?"

Vincent shook his head.

The pair sat in silence, listening to the sound of the shower running. Vincent thought faintly of Riku and exactly why he had indeed been wandering around. Maybe there had been something going on at his home. Crimson eyes looked in the general direction of the bedroom, their owner assuming that the teen had most likely gotten into a disagreement with his mother or father and had simply left home to blow off some steam. Riku would probably want to go home later on that day or sometime even sooner than that. And then, Vincent would return back to his solemn single life.

"I have to go. Tifa wanted to speak with me about something."

Cloud gave a nod and saw himself out the door. But before he stepped out he called: "Don't do anything with him."

-

That had been nine days ago.

Riku was still in Vincent's apartment, the teen had opened up a little but not too much. He stayed inside of the apartment all day, never bothering or asking to go outside or do anything that involved other people. He had met some of Vincent's acquaintances, who had periodically come over to take a look at the "kid" who was currently staying with Vincent. In the mean time, Vincent found himself pondering Riku and all the quirks and whatnot of the teen who had come to stay with him barely over a week ago.

One could say that the older man, dark haired man had developed a sort of emotional attachment to the teen.

Sometimes he would find himself staring at Riku a little longer than he should. And while the two were sleeping in the close confines of Vincent's bed, Vincent would find himself pulling Riku closer while the younger slept. At present, he found himself right next the silver haired teen, who was flipping through channels on the TV. They were sitting on the couch, Riku held the remote in a light grasp. He had started showing the typical mannerisms of a teen. Being indecisive and having bouts of annoyed moodiness, sleeping in a little late, and, of course, watching TV.

"Do you want to go home," Vincent supposed it was time he asked.

Riku's jade colored eyes darkened, adding a sort of creepiness to their normal dull and glazed look. "I don't have a home. If you want me to leave then I'll leave...right now."

"No."

Vincent had not meant it like that.

Crimson eyes glanced over at Riku, who had dropped the remote control on the ground with a soft _thud!_ sound. The teen stood up and headed into Vincent's bedroom and closed the door. The elder did not mind the strange action of Riku claiming the room temporarily as his own. Vincent liked it; he also liked the facial expressions and sighs that Riku would make when he was annoyed—and Riku was annoyed and sighing constantly.

"You don't understand me..."

Riku was leaning against the doorframe. His silvery bangs covering his eyes.

"My mother...she—she left me at a grocery store when I was five. She told me to wait in the candy aisle for her and she would be back in twenty minutes or so. But she never came back. I was put into 'the system' and became a foster kid. That's why I don't have a home."

Vincent gave an understanding look.

Riku shrugged his shoulders and walked back toward the couch and sitting down. "But I'm not screwed up or anything. I wasn't abused or mistreated. I eventually got adopted...I was just _bored_, so I left home." The teen smiled lightly at his own words, as if he were remembering the halcyon days of the past. And for a single moment, Vincent wondered what exactly Riku's life had been like before he left. It was possible that maybe the teen had been a little too complicated for his surroundings. Living in a suburb or something where everyone fit into place like pieces of a puzzle except for himself that is.

Then again...Riku might have been a little stronger than that. He looked like the type to never admit that he felt out of place—that he just did not belong with the rest of them. Riku turned his head toward the TV, dull jade colored eyes studying the features of two girls and a guy on the screen. It looked like on of those teen shows where everyone fit into a stereotype (or at least tried to think that they didn't). Vincent found himself looking at the screen as well, wondering how cliché the plot was and if he would be able to predict the rest of the series based on one episode.

"Are you hungry?" The words were out in the open before he even realized that he had asked them.

"Maybe, yeah. I guess so. Yeah." Riku's eyes seemed distant as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair, the television show sucking him into the world of teens that probably had generic names like Kelly and Kyle. Vincent, in his mind, decided that he might as well order some pizza or something that would come to them rather than searching inside of the refrigerator for some food. He moved carefully off the couch, not wanting to disturb Riku, who now seemed to be wholly enjoying the TV show.

"I'm ordering pizza...what topping would you like?"

"Pepperoni and mushroom."

The silver haired teen turned away from the television, opening his mouth and adding: "The show isn't what you think it is."

Vincent's crimson eyes widened slightly. Riku's clairvoyant ways were a surprise but the teen could have probably figure it out from clues that Vincent had been subconsciously dropping. Exactly what these clues were Vincent did not know and how Riku was finding them and putting them together he also did not know.

There was nothing the older male could say except, "Alright." And with the single word, he watched as the younger turned back in the direction of the TV.

Picking up the cordless phone from the counter, he bent down and removed the phonebook from a low set drawer. Vincent flipped through the pages and found the number of the closest delivering pizza place and ordered.

Twenty minutes and a check for thirteen dollars and forty-three cents later, Vincent sat beside Riku on the couch with a large open box of hot (but cooling) pizza in between them. Riku had two pieces of pizza on a paper towel in his lap and eating another while Vincent merely watched him inadvertently eat the entire thing by himself. "Thanks," Riku arbitrarily added in an interval between bites.

In the privacy of his own head, Vincent established that here and now was the proper time to sort out his exact thoughts and feelings toward the green eyed teen. Riku was not bothersome or loud and he did not require any extra care and wasn't codependent. Also, no one was searching for the teen or had filed any kind of missing person report, which made Vincent kind of suspicious. Riku did not complain when Vincent left for work and the teen had even made quiet mentions of attempting to find himself a job. But what about school? It was that time of year and while the school days had come and gone, Riku made no attempt whatsoever to try and attend classes and Vincent was in no position to make him.

After all, who was he but a stranger who had allowed the sliver haired teen to stay in his home? So **if** Vincent tried to tell Riku that he needed to get his education then all Riku would have to say is something along the lines of: "_Who are you_? _Not my parents_!"

However, Vincent could not imagine Riku throwing a temper tantrum. The teen would most likely indeed go to school and think nothing of it. Vincent's mind drifted away from the thoughts of Riku going to school and moved to ones that pertained to Riku as a person and what he, Vincent, actually thought of this person Riku. He liked Riku. He liked the silver hair and green, green eyes. He liked the young age and how "interesting" Riku was. He liked the fact that Riku was another person who he could live with. And while he did talk to people and while people came to see him...Riku was different, perhaps?

Riku sometimes was a bland color of personalities—he was odd. Sometimes Riku would say things that were reminiscent of a teenager and sometimes he would word his phrases in such that they made him sound as if he had lived a thousand years and more. But this was all attractive to elder who had to admit that he did find Riku quite attractive when it came to things outside of the whole physical aspect of liking another.

Because even though it was doubtlessly pedophilia, Vincent still (remotely, well, more than remotely)—

"—You look lost. In your thoughts, I mean...lost in contemplation..."

Riku's actual voice covered up Vincent's inner voice, causing the older to not catch the end of the sentence even though he already knew it. His eyes looked at the pizza box, which still completely save a large, dark colored grease stain in it. Oh, and the crumbs from the crust and the little package of garlic sauce along with the light green jalapeño. Of course, this was all stalling until he could find a proper response to being told that he looked lost in thought, which he had been.

"I said 'contemplation' because thoughts are quick and sudden, but what you were doing..."

Jade eyes attempted to flash but the flash looked to have succumbed to the overall dullness. The dullness was not bad but rather it mocked the sort of warmth or fire that others might have had in their eyes. It provided an ersatz sense of security for whoever looked into them and thought they saw life.

"I was just thinking about how you willing stay here."

The words made Riku (half) smile. The partial smile looked nice on the teen's face, making him look a little more youthful and like he was enjoying being alive and...and having to do things that he would very much like not to do.

-

The frayed edges were beginning to show themselves. The edges were nasty little things that Vincent would have liked to turn his crimson eyes away from. The edges were things that Riku had tried and tried to hide but they were a lot bigger than he was and a lot smarter too. Vincent had realized that maybe there was a little more to Riku than the teen had original let on. And he had come to this conclusion at that very moment as he came in from work and saw something he would have not liked to see. Maybe a porno scene or Riku having sex with multiple partners would have been better but this...but this was something that could kind of explain why Riku had left home. Or maybe he had been lying about that just like he had been lying when he said he wasn't "screwed up".

"Please...please don't be mad. It's—it's how I get by a-and cope...deal with everything."

Coping? Dealing with everything? The scene before him did not look like coping or dealing with anything. The charcoal haired man closed his eyes and reopened them with hopes that this was all a dream. One of those dreams that seemed so real that you could swear on your life that it had really happened in real life. But this wasn't a dream because Riku was still right there on the floor with...with...Vincent briefly asked himself how long this might have been going on.

Vincent looked at the scene one more time for good measure. Riku sitting awkwardly on the floor, razor blade in between his thumb and forefinger. Neat, evenly spaced apart lines of white powder, looking as if it were pixie dust, on the coffee table that Yuffie had thought would look so "amazing and great" in Vincent's living room area. And the table had looked nice until this moment, with the foreign powder on it. But this wasn't going to be the only problem with Riku and he knew that it would never be it with Riku, there had to be more.

There were needles with fluids inside of them, some of them with a little of bright red in them and all Vincent could do was think of AIDS. Of AIDS and HIV.

"What is that," Vincent asked.

"...methamphetamine...and heroin."

And the next moment was surreal. Everything all dreamlike and fuzzy, a sort of out-of-body experience that only happens when the one experiencing the moment is overcome by some emotion. Usually it was anger but sometimes it could be something else; however, at that current moment it was anger because how else is someone supposed to act when they see a kid—sixteen is still a _kid _no matter how much anyone could argue—doing drugs in the middle of your living room?

In those surreal seconds the charcoal haired Vincent had grabbed or snatched Riku up off the floor and was dragging him outside. With silver hair flying around everywhere, the teen was willing coming along not really protesting or trying to stay inside. Vincent felt himself saying something and felt himself feeling something but he couldn't really hear it or understand it because there was a whooshing sound in his ears. The sound made him feel immortal, like he didn't belong there and it only made his squeeze Riku's arm harder. He thought about letting up but why let up? He was mad—no, pissed—and he felt oddly betrayed. Those dull jade colored eyes...his mind wanted to vomit at the reason why they might have appeared to be so dull.

And then they were somewhere where there were a lot of trees but still in plain public view.

For as he pushed Riku up against the tree, people began to come out.

Some woman was shaking her head, acting as if she had never seen such chaos—no, drama, it was drama—in her entire life.

Vincent let out something that sounded like a sigh, his crimson eyes flashing unbelievably dark. He looked at Riku whose eyes looked shiny and glassy like he was about to start to cry but he didn't. Instead he lowered his head, hair hiding his eyes even more than they normally did. The teen began shuddering as if he were sobbing with no tears or noise. The surreal feeling washed away from Vincent and he supposed from the spectators as well because they began to retreat to back where they came from. Vincent took a step and watched as Riku slid down to the ground, still shuddering.

If this had been a movie then the wind would have chosen to blow—a soft gentle breeze that was symbolic to some kind of change. Riku would have started crying and choking out "I'm sorry" in between cries. And Vincent would have shaken his head and said that all Riku needed was help and time and they would have gone on from there to have a few bumps in the road but overall a happy ending.

The elder sat down next to the teen.

"I...I didn't leave home I was kicked out. I don't...don't go to school because I dropped out."

At those words Vincent would have liked to hold Riku, would have like to hug him but neither one of them were that kind of person. But there was no need or reason for Vincent to attempt to make the first move, because Riku apprehensively moved closer to him. Opening his mouth, carefully thinking about words that could be added to the ones he just finished saying.

But nothing...seemed to fit...

In another burst of surrealism, Vincent found himself standing Riku up and walking him back inside, considerably gentler than when he had been dragging him out. He could feel Riku holding back, wanting to stay outside and not feeling comfortable with going back inside where he had been getting high.

"I need to go. I can't stay here—let me go."

"No. You need to stay because if you stay out **there** you're going to overdose or contract something."

"Well, then, good. I won't be an issue to you or anyone else. I need to leave."

Riku was pulling his arm away from the older man, his eyes losing their dull and starting to look like the eyes of normal person. But then Riku released a frustrated sigh and the dull color returned to his eyes. At the moment, Vincent dragged Riku back inside the apartment, the walk seemingly taking longer than it had before.

And when they were inside an air of awkwardness came over them because a few feet away on the coffee table were...

On showing on the television (in an ironic sense) was that TV show with the stereotypical teens, except it was different. It was changing.

Crimson eyes looked at Riku, who had taken to staring at the beige colored carpeting on the floor and then glancing cautiously at the drugs on the coffee table. He looked as if he was trying to figure out something in his head. A way to have his cake and eat it too.

"You can stay. Or if you really want to...you can leave and go back out—"...where? To the street? That wasn't right.

"I am only going to cause more problems."

"Then I'll just ignore you and let you hit rock bottom by yourself." He wanted to add: _I'll never care._

But those three words were like a promise, the word "will" had a way of making everything seem like a promise. And promising not to care about someone was horrible. Cruel and coldhearted and wasn't ready to be that yet.

The pair of them turned their eyes to the television, where the characters with their generic names were starting to realize nothing was what it claims to be.

-

Exactly twenty days after Riku started staying with him and only six since the (drug) incident, Vincent noticed that there were certain things that needed to be acknowledged and they were not going to go away until then.

Thing #1: Riku still liked his drugs (and he liked them a lot). And rather than try and hide it from the whole world and Vincent, Riku preferred to get in high and plain view. It was quite disturbing to see him poke himself with a needle until he hit a vein, or hear the sound of drugs going from the coffee table straight up to the teen's brain. The brain cells...all the lost brain cells.

Thing #2: Riku needed clothes and the fact that he and Vincent were sharing Vincent's clothing made the few articles of clothing that the elder had dirty up twice as fast as they normally would. While the teen had successful managed to get a job—which required him getting a drug test before being hired, Vincent had no idea how he had passed—Riku liked to use his money for more temporary substances (see thing #1).

Thing #3: Cloud was starting to get suspicious and for a good reason. He had come over a few times and had seen Riku when he was "not his best". Therefore, he was starting to have hunches about Riku and was beginning to think the teen may not be something that should be kicked to the curb as soon as possible.

Thing #4: Riku was becoming attractive to Vincent. This attraction was a big, huge No-No.

Thing #5: The attraction was definitely in a sexual sense...but it was also another thing but what...?

Thing #6: Riku. Riku. Riku. Riku. Riku. Riku.

And those were all six things (or problems, they were really problems). Vincent felt that if he could solve thing #6 then he would be able to cure all of the five problems that came before it. Everything was caused by thing #6 and if thing #6 did not exist then all of the other problems would not exist. It was a simple process of elimination, really. If one thought about it long enough no matter how many of the other things were dealt with they would always come as long as thing #6 remained. However, the only way to get rid of thing #6 was either by kicking thing #6 out or by killing thing #6 and neither one of those ideas presented itself as a good one.

Of course, this was not the time to be worrying about Riku because the teen was currently sitting upright slumped over and sleeping. He looked at peace with himself, his silvery hair covering his eyelids. The occasional sound of a deep breath being released symbolized that life still coursed through veins, despite the dead look in the green eyes when they were open. It was all good right now, peaceful and quiet.

Vincent had tried hard not to vomit animadversion whenever he looked at the teen; he had to remember he was not a parent.

Not being a parent meant that he could only offer up suggestion and not anything more because neither he nor Riku had made any kind of promise to the other.

Their living together was on a day to day basis and if it was gone within the next minute or if lasted for another two weeks who cared?

Vincent turned in the direction of the window, the sun shyly peeking though but it was still slightly dark. It was the odd hour of seven o'clock, when the sun was trying to come out but night was not ready to be relieved of its duty. People were waking up and going off to school or work or just doing whatever.

Having time to himself was nice.

He never understood exactly why people living with another person complained about not having alone time.

After all, they had _willing_ agreed.

But Vincent had learned no matter how much liked someone they became obnoxious after a while.

Looking into their eyes became a chore and sometimes you just wanted to look away because you could always see their face. When he closed your eyes and in your dreams they haunted you. The sound of their voice could drive you to insanity and you might just eventually snap and blow their brains out with any gun that you could get your hands on.

There was also the painful truth that you did the exact same thing to them. So it was good that he and Riku were in different worlds, he stuck in reality and of the pleasantries and horrors that came with it. Riku in dreamland where everything bended to his subconscious, thoughts that he could probably never remember thinking—at the mercy of his own mind. But dreamland was a nice place, especially when you had good dreams. When had an amazing dream you tended to wake up a lot happier versus someone who had a nightmare or just flat-out shit-tastic dream based on absolutely crap.

"Wha—" there was a yawn—"time is it?"

Vincent liked Riku.

"It looks early, the sun's barely up."

But...

"A little after seven." Riku picked himself up off of the couch, walking toward Vincent's bedroom, probably going to the bathroom. He might take a shower, might not. There never had been much of a set routine, be it morning or even, with Riku. Things just kind of occurred.

...Yes.

Just like those books that teenage girls love to read with all the romance and whatnot. There was always that one character who went through life not really expecting anything and then _boom!_ They would stumble upon something so wonderfully fantastic and you would hate that character because they were just so lucky.

Well, nothing amazing had ever happened to Riku (at least not that Vincent knew) but rather he just bumbled through life. The teen never got out enough for great things to happen. Maybe a good thing would be that he would be able to get over his little addiction.

It was pointless to think about that kind of thing. But as the silver haired teen walked back into the living the thought could not help flash across the elder's mind in the advertisement sort of way. In big bold letters, with bright lights and some catchy little slogan that would stick in his mind all day long.

Vincent watched as he took his time walking around, going somewhere but not really—

"You have any coffee? I want some coffee." Jade colored eyes were staring at the elder, a light tanned hand scratching at silver hair. Riku was partial turned around, facing in the general direction of the window as if he were going to walk over and look outside. Not that there was much to look at due to the fact that they were in one of those areas that was building up and there were buildings everywhere and not a tree in sight.

"No, no coffee. You don't need the stuff anyway." Vincent returned the stare. "Besides you're young. You can make it through the day without an artificial energy boost." He blinked away, in his mind imagining a scowl forming on Riku's face. Because when you're a teenage a scowl can form on your face in no time.

"Who effin' cares if I need it or not?" There was no scowl, just annoyance in the hollow voice. The annoyance made Riku sound younger; he sounded like he thought he knew everything but really didn't and was about to receive and awakening from some higher power that would like to make itself known. "I like the taste...and I could use the extra energy."

"Of course."

Now there was a scowl. A sort of evil one really. It appeared to be the offspring of a glower and die-now look. Vincent supposed the light, airy sarcasm in the "of course" was a little much but it had slipped out of his mouth on accident, when it should have stayed inside of his head.

"I have something to tell you—later."

Vincent nodded absently. Sometime later the sentence would come back cavorting into his mind with a vengeance like no other, screaming and demanding to know it had not been thought about. Smashing things to pieces and sending the black haired man into a mental breakdown, in which he would be institutionalized and no longer able to take care of himself. And in his mind, he would constantly see Riku and hear the teen's words echoing in his mind and consuming him. Drawing him into the deep dark pits of the underworld.

The teen walked into the kitchen, turning around sharp on his heel. He opened the refrigerator and pulling out a carton of juice. Juice was new to Vincent's refrigerator. He had only purchased it due to the fact that Riku would not enjoy having to drink water or some other bland tasting liquid all the time. So in order to spruce it up a tiny bit, cartons or two of juice or soda was bought at least once every two weeks.

Riku removed a cup from the cabinets, rinsed it out, and poured himself a glass. The juice was a nice, pastel peach color making the liquid resembling a tropical juice of sorts. The juice looked as if it tasted like the virgin version of an alcoholic drink.

Riku threw his head back and downed the drink and poured another, coming across as a bartender pouring another drink for a customer. All he needed was that tired laidback look and he would be all set. Oh, yes, could not forget the long-sleeved collared shirt, with the rolled up sleeves and the vest with the tacky gold name tag with black writing. Silver hair swinging to some no existent breeze, Riku put his cup in the sink with _clink! _sound and put the juice back into the refrigerator. Slamming the door and making the contents inside shake.

"Are you working today? Or are you going to stay here all day with me?"

"Work." Vincent looked outside, the sky was a lighter and it looked some time had passed since seven in the morning. But that was what happened when had someone else with you. Time sort of went by a little too fast and you were left in the wake, wondering where all the time had gone. It was a pleasant thing, not looking at the clock and noticing that only two minutes had passed rather than the two hours that it felt like.

"So you know..."

Crimson eyes looked away.

"Quit my job."

Jade eyes had a peaceful sort of look about them as if quitting a job and having no money was a good thing. No job meant that Riku would have the lovely opportunity to remain home all day doing absolutely nothing with his time except watching television and getting high. And even though he had no job or money, Vincent was sure that there would be a way for Riku to get a fix there always was.

That was the thing about addicts—they always got what they wanted.

-

The hour was late.

Late as in it around three-ish in the morning (of the next day).

Vincent was tired and his eyes hurt, they wanted to close so badly but they couldn't. He had to force his eyes to remain open and keep walking those few yards to the front door and inside the apartment. Because inside there was his bed and bed meant sleep.

He wondered lightly what Riku had been doing the entire day, if there had been enough for him to eat and if he had eaten the recommended three square meals a day.

Opening the door, Vincent stepped into darkness. He turned on the lights and there was no one in the living room, which he noted quietly in his mind. It was just that Riku had come to take a liking to sleeping on the couch more so than in the bed unless it had just been one of those days.

He walked into the bedroom and sure enough Riku was lying in the bed, with his hair all over the pillow and his arms on either side of him. He looked like a dead body in the middle of the road. The type of dead body that a random person looks at and thinks _oh, poor baby_ but continues to walk on. They feel bad and sad but not bad enough or sad enough to help the dead person out or wish that they were alive again. Eventually someone would call the police, someone in a car because they didn't dead person all over their car tires.

Not bothering to change into nightclothes, he turned off the light that he had subconsciously turned on and climbed into bed.

Vincent began to drift off into sleep. A sleep that it seems only infants get just because they have so much time on their tiny, pink-ish colored hands. The same kind of sleep the working adults and teens pined for but would never no matter how much they tried.

Unless they either quit their job or put a bullet through their own heads.

But as his crimson eyes closed, the charcoal haired man thought briefly—or thought he was—about how lucky he was and that he should work until three more often so that he could to achieve this sleep. He was also lucky that the Evil Ironic Overpower was not going to be evil or ironic and have something wake him up at this time because that would be just plain evil. And when top eyelid met lower eyelid he knew that he was home free and—

"Vincent? Is that you when'd you get back?" The light turned on, a sharp pain that irritated his eyes. Riku sounded tired, his voice drowning in sleepiness. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I just got back. Let's talk about this in the morning." Vincent reached across Riku and hit the lit switch, the light disappearing. He heard Riku let out a breath something that sounded like it was caught in between frustration and exhaustion. But Vincent thought nothing of it as he was tired and tired meant caring about things was far from mind.

"It's later." Riku's voice was quiet, bouncing off the walls and echoing around the room. He sounded like he was drifting off back into sleep, hanging onto the consciousness by his fingertips. But fighting against sleep was futile; no matter how hard you tried you could not win. Never ever.

The elder responded with a: "Hn." The incoherent noise sounding like nothing compared to the teen's voice prior. He wanted to remind the silver haired adolescent that this could all be taken care of in the morning.

"Remember what I said earlier?" The light was turned back on, Riku sitting up and forcing any covers off of himself and shaking Vincent. "I have something to tell you." This time he was close, his lips close to Vincent's ear and his breath on Vincent's skin. But none of that matter the elder was gone.

-

"Well, you're up late...even for a Saturday morning—that is."

That was the sound of Riku in the morning. Sitting on the couch with a bowl of something in his hands and the television blasting some crap theme song. It had indeed been the same crap theme song that had woken Vincent up at the lovely hour of two (in the afternoon). Of course he waking to the sound of the crap theme song was not an adorable little accident on Riku's part.

The immature act of attention just screamed committed by someone underage. But that was not the point; the point was Riku was shoveling something that required a fork into his mouth a sending the crimson eyed man the look that was the spawn of a glower and a die-now look. A look which meant that Riku was not going to be acting very pleasant on this particular Saturday.

Now, if this had been a TV show then Vincent would have said something dumb. Something really stupid that most parents or legal guardians on TV said, because in the fictional televised world parent or legal guardians always said stupid things. On TV the world was ruled by children and teens and they were the smart ones whilst their mom and pop sat around and were completely oblivious to what was going on. The kid could be running some internet based store in the freaking basement and the parents still would not know. But thank goodness that this was not TV and there was no chance that Vincent would make some dumb, obvious remark.

"Is there a problem?"

"No...no, not really. I'm just a little pissed off." Sarcasm. Ha, ha.

"Is there anything in specific that you're angry about?"

"It's just that—you know—last night, I was just trying to tell you something but...but you were all...ugh."

Riku made a disgusted face into the bowl of food, his eyebrows knitting together. He looked as if wanted to commit an act of violence. One that involved a lot of blood and screaming obscenities. Maybe there would even be a few devices of torture involved. But whatever it was the silver haired teen looked like he was close to doing it and that he would enjoy doing it with a disturbing little smile plastered on his face. And he would still be wearing the smile as he chopped bodies up into small pieces and wrapped them up.

However, there were some baby-like qualities to the anger. It was as if he was being a whiny little brat unable to get his way and get what he wanted. Which was attention and someone to respond to everything that he said. Vincent would have laughed, if he had been the type of person, but it did not seem to be the appropriate moment to laugh.

So how to...

...properly react with causing more anger?

Turning down the television, Riku tossed a pointed stare in the general area that Vincent was currently located in. He walked passed the older making sure not to even acknowledge the fact the other was there even though he had just been glaring at him. It was just one of those things that teenagers did when they were pissed because not recognizing the fact that someone did not exist was a huge blow to the person's psyche (or so was thought) until you reached a certain age, when it no longer mattered.

However Vincent was a little more affected then he thought he would be. It is kind of depressing when someone looks at you one moment and then the next you are no better then dog crap. The small but highly effective change made a huge difference in the way you think of yourself. But then again, you had to keep in mind that when a teen does that to you they are just being a brat or in a mood and should not bother them because bothering a pissed off person—in general—is a deadly, deadly thing. Heck, you might not even make it to your next birthday unless you were, like, suicidal and sucked at killing yourself and needed a little assistance.

Wanting to get his point across that he was still in the room and still needed to have one hundred percent of the attention (at least until the issue was resolved), Riku made a big deal of putting his bowl on the counter. And by making a big deal it meant big deal. It wasn't enough to just the bowl on the counter but he had to slam the thing on the hard surface causing tiny bits and pieces of the glass to flick off. And then not satisfied with the fact the crimson eyed man's property was damaged, he just pushed the bowl over the counter, letting it the floor and shatter into a bunch of pieces.

Riku watched this happen with very uninterested eyes and just shrugged his shoulders and reached into the cabinets to get another dish. If Vincent could have predicted the future then he definitely would have walked over and dragged the silver haired teen away, kicking and screaming. But he couldn't see the future; therefore, when Riku let the first glass cup it the ground and shatter into a million bits and pieces he was a little surprised.

Then the second cup, third, fourth, excreta. And once there were no more glasses to be smashed, Riku moved onto the plates and bowls. Of course this was when Vincent should have stopped him realizing that he was about to lose all of his dishes. But it was all kind of bizarre in this fantastic sort of way, with Riku turning his pretty jade colored eyes and smirking at the elder. This smirk that kind of had this sexual look to it, that was completely and wonderfully amazing and that was when Vincent came to honest to God conclusion that maybe—just maybe—he wouldn't mind fucking the teen even though it was really, really, really against the law.

The downside was that Vincent was about to lose all of his dishes no matter how sexually arousing Riku smashing them was. And it was this fact that made him say: "Stop. Riku, stop right now."

In response, Riku just took the last pile of plates, which was also the last pile of dishes left, and dropped them on the ground. Most of them becoming little parts whilst some of them broke in half or into larger pieces that could probably be taped or glued back together since there was no way that Vincent would able to go out and by himself a set of plates, bowls, and cups. However the next time he did, he would be sure to get that hard, indestructible plastic.

Looking highly proud of himself, Riku smiled a sick little smile as if he had just massacred a whole country worth of people and didn't feel horrible about it. He just crossed his arms, his eyes laughing and speaking the words that their owner really didn't need to say, "_Ha_,_ ha_,_ fuck you bitch_." But that wasn't the bad part. The bad part came when Vincent realized that in that moment he would have walked across the glass ridden floor, cutting up feet and everything and force the teen to the floor and fuck him on the glass. On the glass and he would not care if it hurt either on or they bled out.

But Riku wasn't thinking about that. Because Riku had decided to walk out of the kitchen and that one little choice was definitely not the brightest decision that he had made that day. In fact, it was probably one of the dumbest decisions that anyone had made all year. And that was a considerable thing due to the fact that there were at least seven billion people on the planet and out of all of this billions of people, Riku had been the one to make the stupid choice. So as he attempted to walk across the floor the green, green eyed teen managed to step on about fifty pieces of glass.

As his eyes widened Riku inhaled a sharp breath, one so sharp it sounded like hurt before exhaling and saying, "Shi—ah, fu-ah...!" And the partial curses continued from there as he hobbled out of the kitchen landing on the carpet, with blooding running down his feet and toes.

"Ironic," Vincent said.

"Very ironic," Vincent said.

"Shut—up—now." Riku replied, holding his foot and blood getting on his fingers and the carpet.

And then he turned to face the black haired man with jade colored eyes that resembled those of a four-year-old. A four-year-old who was really quite hurt and looked on the edge of bursting out into a fit of tears because his revenge had gone all wrong. He had meant to hurt someone else but had ended up getting hurt themselves. It was quite sad and depressing when it was thought about long enough. But Riku looked away and began pulling glass out of his foot noticeably wincing with each piece he removed. And then there were would be the pieces bigger pieces...

So Vincent went to the bathroom to get the first aid kit.

The first aid wasn't your standard first aid kit but rather your hardcore first aid kit that was one step away from being a surgical kit.

It had everything that surgeon in training needed. It had had painkillers, a little thing that looked like pliers (which he figured he might have to used due to the circumstances), gauze, one of those things to take blood pressure, and a thousand other things. A lot of them...

...unnecessary.

By the time that the charcoal haired male sat down beside Riku, the teen had a pretty nice collection of colored and clear glass going on. Of course the colored pieces were only enhanced by the fact that they were dripping in blood and leftover drops were on them.

The elder gave a thoughtful look at the wounds as he opened the clear plastic bin. He held out his hand and took Riku's foot in it, not really saying anything other than, "This might hurt." And then he took the thing that looked like anorexic pliers and began removing the pieces of glass from the teen's foot. His crimson eyes concentrated on the job at hand while his ears listened to Riku take painful breaths.

The whole thing went pretty well, except when he had to dig into flesh and remove large pieces of glass.

During those instances he felt bad. He just had to keep on reminding himself that he was only doing this so that Riku would have glass and in his foot and so that hopefully his insides would not become messed up. And if his feet did not get messed up then Riku would not contract gangrene and he wouldn't have to his feet removed or (worse) his legs. If kept his legs then Riku would be happy and a happy Riku was not angry at Vincent.

Unless being angry at Vincent was what truly made Riku happy—that would be very, very saddening.

It was a good feeling to care about what someone else truly thought of you.

As long as it did not rule your self-image.

Then you were just some lame ass teen who spent all their time looking in the mirror.

Well, that wasn't accurate. It was cruel thing to lump a group of people together based on the actions of a few of those people. It was judging a book that you haven't read by its cover.

Vincent finished pulling the glass from one foot and then bandaged it and then moved on to the other foot, which was in a worse state than the other one. In fact the other foot looked like it might require stitches. But for now, Vincent would just have to bandage it up and take Riku to the hospital later? Now there was a dilemma. Do you take someone to a hospital or doctor's office when they required stitches? And if you took them to either would he have to take Riku to a pediatrician or a regular doctor like the adults used? What would he say if they asked where his mother and father were?

Crap.

When life gave you lemons and you had no clue how to make lemonade, just either a.) throw the damn lemons away; they weren't worth the trouble b.) eat the lemons; it was most likely one of those life or death situations or c.) just don't give a crap. And right now, the best option was 'C' because he had to concentrate on getting the lemons out of Riku's bleeding feet.

While focusing on this Vincent wondered what Riku thought about him.

And then he remembered.

"You were going...to tell or ask me something?"

"Hunh?"

"Tell me..."

"Oh, that's right. Yesterday and last night. That's what I was angry about wasn't it?" Riku brushed his bangs from his face.

"I believe so."

"It's unimportant."

"What?"

Riku chose not to answer but rather lie on his back and gaze up at the ceiling with his dull jade eyes. Vincent pulled out the remaining glass and bandaged up the other foot like he had the first. Looking inside of the plastic container, he pulled the painkillers and took out two small, oblong shaped pills. He handed them to Riku with a, "Here take these." And the silver haired teen took them with something that looked like a smile.

"I was going to tell you something important—"

Vincent hated the way Riku was drawing it out.

"—I might have told a few other people this but I—"

Like he was scared?

"—love you?"

Vincent froze. Did he just hear the words "_I might have told a few other people this but I love you"_? At least it hadn't been all mushy and crap but he had to admit that it was a little shocking to hear that the teen had gone and said "I love you" to more than one person. But that was probably what other teens did his age. It was probably really popular and trite to tell someone that you loved them even though you had little to no romantic or intimate moments with the other person. The world was so strange nowadays; people probably got married after a month of knowing each other.

He might have been taking too long in his reply because Riku was giving a desperate look. "You don't have to say anything back," this was going to turn into a misunderstanding.

A misunderstanding where Riku would begin to ramble on and on about understanding that Vincent wasn't _that_ **way** and he hadn't meant to say that and maybe it was the painkillers. Yup, blame it the painkillers because they were the only drug that had taken in the past hour. But it did not seem right to just let Riku struggle with the thoughts and make him come up with a way to smooth things over. So the elder fixed it in the only other way that would not be misinterpreted. And the only way that would make him forget about the "_I might have told a few other people this_".

And so Vincent was leaning in to kiss Riku because kissing somehow became one of the most logical thing to do. But again he was taking too long and taking too long was always a bad thing, well, except maybe this time. Riku closed the gap between the two of them, pressing his lips against the elder and that was where it began. They moved on from there. Vincent taking hold of the teen's waist. The entire thing was weird; Riku's silvery hair was ruffling and tickling against the crimson eyed man's forehead. Feeling soft, feathery, and light and he wanted to smile into the kiss but Riku was already doing it. Vincent could feel the edges of his mouth turning up and his breathing becoming quick.

Then tongue was added and tongue made things a lot more complicated because Vincent would have liked to been dominant but Riku's personality and aggressiveness were just a little too much. So the jade eyed teen would move his tongue here and there and then Vincent would respond and touch the roof of Riku's mouth, which result in a slight laugh. Suddenly the urge to touch Riku all over was starting to present itself but Vincent could feel himself hesitating (however he still wanted to do it).

Vincent pulled back with Riku giving him an expectant look, a look that said something along the lines of: _"Well, what are you waiting for_?" It was just that he, Vincent, did not know exactly what he was supposed to do. Maybe he should make a comment or respond to what Riku said earlier. Or just say anything.

"I...I like you a lot as well."

And Riku gave a nice smile a smile that almost, kind of, sort of reached his eyes. The dull color sparkling for just a bit and making him look younger. He wrapped his arms around Vincent's neck.

The teen cocked his head lightly to the side, moving closer his face closer to Vincent's and then bringing their lips together and kissing him. And the elder placed his hand in Riku's hair, touching it and feeling it between his fingers. The silvery hair was soft and slippery in his fingers but all this was forgotten as their tongues came together again, the strange feeling of tongue touching tongue sending butterflies into Vincent's stomach and it was nice. However, once again they stopped, this time Riku pulling back with an inquisitive expression worn on his face. As if there was something wrong, which if there was it the charcoal haired elder felt that it was probably his fault.

With silver hair glittering slightly, Riku bit his bottom lip.

His jade colored eyes dulled a bit and it looked like the sign of a bad, bad omen.

"Good," he said, "I'm happy...now."

"Really?"

"Really."

(**x**) (**x**) (**x**)

-_fin_-

* * *

**.notes.**

...for **jaded-raindrop**'s contest.

I was inspired by **"p5hng me awy" **by **linkin park**—the **Reanimation **version of the song is much better than the original (_laughs_). I decided on this pairing while I was painting my toe nails black, about two weeks ago but didn't start writing until five days ago. I'm pretty surprised that I finished on time.

Well, many thanks for reading & reviews greatly loved!


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